OT: University of Cal System drops new logo

As a follow up to the whole Cal attempt to rebrand itself, the Cal System has dropped the new seal. The Cal admins though have decided to be butthurt about the entire thing and whine about being misunderstood. For example:

Dooley defended the contemporary logo...Critics had latched onto "an unfortunate and false narrative, which framed the matter as an either-or choice between a venerated UC seal and a newly designed monogram," he said.

The article on it is kind of interesting. Beside the butthurt from people like Dooley, it does show that a harsh public outcry can make the admins put the brakes on things. In Cal's it was so extreme the intern who handles the Twitter for the governor's dog (really) was riping on the seal. It also shows how annoying that change for the sake of change mindset can be.

The graphic would not have replaced the official seal on diplomas or official letterhead, but was meant to bring a more modern look to websites and publications in UC's fundraising, recruiting and public affairs campaigns. The symbol was accompanied by the text "University of California," a fact its critics ignored, officials complained.

Only marketing morons could think that a University seal, where everyone expects to see Latin, some images representing science, knowledge, etc, needs to be updated to look like some tech startup's new logo. Even better is the attitude of "The fact it looked horrible is irrelevant because we were gonna stick some 12 point text under it!".

When virtually everybody without a vested interest in seeing the logo succeed has the immediate, visceral reactions that were recounted in the original MGoBlog post, it's an indication that the designers were working in a closed, cloistered environment. As a designer, it's unfathomable to me how those designers could have proposed that solution without any awareness that its graphic form left it wide open to sexually-oriented satire and scatological lampooning.

except that we're not talking about the school commonly referred to as Cal, we're talking about the whole 8 campus UC system.

To localize things, both the block M and the University of Michigan seal are shared by all three campuses of the UM system. UC doesn't have the equivalent of that block M logo to put on letterheads and crap, so they created the loading symbol to be that. It was a good idea in theory, but that logo in particular was horrible

When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing. -- Bo Schembechler

I love here and the Marketing Director was all defensive just yesterday on a radio show and at the end commented "it's not going away." I was surprised his lack of savvy and thought after that attitude maybe his job is.